MISSING CLASSMATES

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Welcome to the East High Class Of 1964 web site. We will be adding classmates and updating information as we get it so stop back at any time to see the progress!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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Update on Monthly Class Get-Togethers

Girls of 64

Girls of 64 Lunch for December will be held at Barb Miller McKenney's. We will carpool as most of us have never been to Barb’s. This is a potluck at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 19th. Weather depending. If it is snowy or icy we will cancel. We can leave our cars at Hy-Vee in M’side at 11:15 and pick up the Northside people on our way. Please call Sue if questions, 712-574-4641.

Class Coffee Hour

The January all-class coffee hour will be held on Wednesday, January 9th. The location will be the Perkins located across from Menard's on Gordon Drive. We will start telling stories at 9:00 again, so don't be late or we may tell a story about you.

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Commissioning complete, USS Sioux City heads home

After nearly two years spent working to give the USS Sioux City and her crew a commissioning celebration they'd never forget, members of the commissioning committee held on Sunday for a long goodbye to the ship and crew they have grown to love.

With a long, loud blast from its horn, the USS Sioux City signaled two tugboats to pull it away from the Dewey Seawall at the U.S. Naval Academy and into deeper water in the middle of the Severn River.

Done pulling, the tugs unhooked their lines, and an officer on board the USS Sioux City called out, "Attention to starboard." Crew members working on the decks came to the shoreside railing, stood at attention and saluted those on shore as the warship's engines began powering the vessel forward.

"We did it," retired Rear Adm. Frank Thorp, the commissioning committee's chairman, yelled to fellow committee members, including Siouxland Chamber of Commerce president Chris McGowan, who had served as co-chairman.

With cellphones held high to catch a few final photos and videos, committee members and other spectators walked along the seawall, following the USS Sioux City as it picked up speed and headed down the river. Reaching the end of the seawall, everyone stopped, watching the ship grow smaller and smaller as it headed to its home port in Mayport, Florida.

Minutes before, Thorp, McGowan and other committee members posed on shore for photos with the ship's commanding officer Cmdr. Randy Malone, who was still beaming the day after the first Navy warship named for Sioux City had been commissioned in front of more than 6,000 people and top Navy commanders.

"There's no moment in my career that will ever match what we did yesterday," said Malone, dressed in fatigues rather than the dress uniforms he'd been wearing for many of the previous days' festivities.

On board the ship a couple hours before leaving, crew members were stowing red-white-and-blue bunting and other banners that had been hung on board while the ship greeted more than 9,000 visitors who had toured it since its arrival in Annapolis on Tuesday.

One milestone down, the next -- certification of the ship and its systems -- on the horizon, said Lt. j.g. Amaia Maldonado.

But first, she said, a welcomed trip home to Florida after months of training that preceded sailing the ship from a Wisconsin shipyard to Annapolis. Taking part in the commissioning was fun and an honor for the 75 crew members, now they were ready to see their families and sleep in their own beds after they dock in their home port Wednesday.

"For us, we've been out of our homes since June, so we're getting home," Maldonado said.

After arriving in Florida, the USS Sioux City will receive equipment upgrades before beginning testing in January. About a year later, the ship and its crew will begin a certification process. A deployment schedule has yet to be established, Malone said.

"We are happy that this week of celebrations are over and that we can get back to work," Malone said.

SCJ November 19, 2018​​​​​​​

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Lloyd Pippett Memories Told At His Funeral

[Editor's Note: Lloyd Pippett taught at East High until 1961 so he would not have taught any of our classes. However, he had three sons: Craig (class of 62), Denny (class of 65) and Clarence (class of 68). For those of you that played football, you may remember him as he attended many practices. He also was a member of Sioux City's 174th Tactical Fighter Wing that was activated during the Vietnam War.]

A pair of giants in the life of the Rev. Tom LoVan died on Sunday. One, former Iowa Gov. Robert D. Ray, 89, welcomed thousands of Southeast Asians to Iowa in the 1970s, including 289 members of LoVan's extended Tai Dam family.

LoVan presided over Pippett's funeral on Saturday at Morningside Lutheran Church, a church Pippett served as congregation president three times, at ages 62, 72 and 82.

"I was 8 or 9 years old, a little boy in 1969 when I met Lloyd Pippett," LoVan said. "I was at the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane, Laos, where my parents worked. A U.S. general's daughter somehow showed up in Saigon and the general told the colonel (Pippett) to get her out of Saigon." Pippett arranged for a flight into and out of Saigon. Once they had the general's daughter, they flew to the U.S. Embassy in Laos. LoVan and his brother met the helicopter as it landed. "I was standing there watching this 18-year-old blonde girl get off the helicopter," LoVan said. "And then came Lloyd Pippett. Being at the Embassy, we were used to seeing Marines with M-16s. This was the first time I saw a lieutenant colonel dressed like a soldier. I remember his green uniform, his hat and the pistol he carried at his side." Pippett extended his right hand, introducing himself to the boy. "Lloyd shook my hand," said LoVan. "As an Asian boy, I had a weak handshake. Lloyd looked me straight in the eye and said, 'Shake hands like a man!'" It was a line Pippett used throughout his life.

In 1997, Pippett and members of Morningside Lutheran Church called LoVan to become an associate pastor for their congregation in Sioux City. "I recognized Lloyd right away when I was called to come to Sioux City," LoVan said. "I told him we had met before."

Pippett asked the pastor if he was the little boy at the U.S. Embassy in Laos. Said LoVan, "I told Lloyd I was that little boy. And I said, 'You scared the heck out of me!'"

The crowd assembled for Pippett's funeral laughed at the line and several others LoVan shared about his friend. LoVan said Pippett took him to lunch a couple of years ago before "Pip" moved to Houston to be close to his son, Clarence Pippett. "Tom," LoVan recalled Pippett saying, "if I die, you bury me. There will be no Psalm 23. And, don't say any good things about me!"

LoVan begged forgiveness for sharing tales of Pippett's military, civilian and church leadership. He talked about the skill the former East High teacher demonstrated in building and renovating components of the church he loved.

"He built for me a rack to display my clothing as I traveled throughout the U.S. and Canada to explain our Southeast Asian Lutheran Ministry," LoVan said.

And when a trip to Hawaii for Lloyd and Ruby didn't come to fruition a few years ago, Lloyd took the money they'd set aside for the vacation and handed it to LoVan, giving him the go-ahead to use the funds to help build a church in Cambodia.

The church and the saving grace of a savior meant the world to an old soldier who did his share of praying while sleeping under a truck and going without a hot shower or hot meal for more than a month in Germany during World War II. He made it home from two wars and gave thanks for every day.

"Lloyd ordered Bibles for his men in Vietnam," LoVan said. "He read it cover to cover four or five times and wanted others to do so." Pippett got the Bibles into Vietnam by having the boxes marked, "Medical supplies."

LoVan smiled as he considered the convergence in death of two forces in his life, men of strength and compassion who worked to better the lives of others. One served as governor; the other, as a teacher, an officer and a friend. Said the Rev. Tom LoVan, "Those men, they had a great impact on my life."

SCJ July 15, 2018

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Younkers Department Store Has Closed

(Mall exterior view)

(Downtown store interior view)

After more than seven decades in Sioux City, it appears Younkers department store will close its doors for good this summer.

The only two bids for Younkers' Wisconsin-based parent company, Bon-Ton Inc., as part of a bankruptcy auction were liquidators. Barring a last-minute reprieve, the storied retail chain seems destined to shut down all of its operations.

Younkers has given notice to its Sioux City employees, the city and state that its Southern Hills Mall close will shut down beginning June 5, costing 84 employees their jobs.

Losing Younkers will be a major blow to the indoor shopping center, where the department store has served as one of its anchors since the mall opened in 1980.

Younkers has had a presence in the Sioux City market since 1947 when it acquired the Davidson Brothers Co. department store downtown. Davidson Brothers origins date back to 1881 when Russian immigrant Ben Davidson moved to Sioux City and began selling wares out of his home. Two of his brothers eventually also migrated to the states and joined the business and helped it grow.

For 22 years, after the Younkers sale, the combined downtown store operated as Younkers-Davidson before the latter name was dropped in 1969.

Younkers operated two stores in Sioux City from 1980 until 2006 when it shuttered its downtown store at Fourth and Pierce streets. HOM Furniture now occupies the space.

Bon-Ton, whose brands also include Boston, Carson's, Elder-Beerman, Bergner's, and Herberger's, had hoped the financially-troubled company could be saved by a joint bid by several mall owners. That group included the owner of the Southern Hills Mall, Washington Prime Group. However, the deal fell through after a federal judge barred Bon-Ton from paying the investor group a $500,000 fee as compensation for its due diligence costs.

Younkers' imminent departure will leave Sears as Southern Hill Mall's last original anchor. Target, which left the mall after building a standalone store in the nearby Sunnybrook Plaza, was replaced by JCPenney, which previously had a store downtown.

April 17, 2018 SCJ

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Warrior Hotel, Davidson Building to Return to Former Glory in $56M Restoration Plan

A walk through the interior of the Warrior Hotel on Sixth Street reveals reminders of its elaborate past.

The Warrior icon remains on the railing of stairs leading to the second floor. Ornamental designs, with some gaps, still adorn the building's columns. The floor and ceiling designs in the second-floor ballroom carry a tint of their former grandeur.

Developers say the gutted historic building and its next-door historic neighbor to the west, the Davidson Building, will be restored to their glory from decades long past -- and even better -- as part of a planned $56 million restoration plan set to begin this year.

The plan will transform the Warrior and Davidson buildings into a 146-room Autograph by Marriott hotel, as well as luxury apartments, bars, restaurants and other retail outlets.

Roger Caudron, a spokesman for longtime developer Lew Weinberg, whose company owns the two structures, said the project could begin in May or June. Construction is anticipated to take between 16 and 18 months, he said.

Both the Warrior and Davidson are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 10-story Warrior, built in 1930, was long considered one of Sioux City's most elegant hotels but has been vacant for more than 40 years, despite a series of efforts to bring the property back. Since the late 1990s, the boarded-up structure has been red-tagged by the city for building code violations.

To comply with strict federal standards required to qualify for historic tax credits to help finance the project, Restoration St. Louis plans to restore the brick exterior of the Art Deco-style hotel, which features Terra Cotta ornamentation and flourishes like ornate buffalo heads, and the second-floor lobby, front desk and ballroom.

The upper floors would be converted into 92 guest rooms. An additional 54 rooms would be carved out of the second, third and fourth floors of the Davidson Building, which became the city's first office building when it opened in 1913.

The remainder of the 200,000 square feet of combined space will become restaurants, bars, retail shops and luxury apartments.

The Warrior/Davidson project will be the city's second new Marriott hotel, joining a separate downtown project by North Liberty, Iowa-based Kinseth Hospitality to construct a Courtyard by Marriott hotel adjoining the city's convention center.

January 21, 2018 SCJ

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Trip Down Memory Lane to the tune "Sioux City Sue"

If you click on the following link you will see some familiar scenes around Sioux City. Hopefully you will remember them anyway!

The Sioux City Journal ran a series of stories on local guys about their experience on serving in Vietnam. The October 1, 2015 article is about our own Jim Ashmore.

Jim Ashmore doesn't mince words when asked why he joined the Iowa Air National Guard 185th Tactical Fighter Group.

"I joined to avoid the draft and avoid going to Vietnam," Ashmore said.

He laughed before adding, "It didn't work."

Ashmore, a 1964 East High School graduate, attended Nettleton Business Training College in Sioux City and completed a two-year accounting program. He signed on at Williams & Co., a CPA firm, and joined the 185th in May 1966.

"In January 1968, we were activated," he said, noting how the USS Pueblo had just been taken by North Korea.

Ashmore shipped out in May 1968, headed for Phu Cat, Vietnam, in the central part of the country. He flew on a cargo plane overseas.

"I was not familiar with Phu Cat," he recalls. "It was like we weren't supposed to know. I stepped off the plane and it was a different world."

Ashmore, 21, was assigned to outside receiving. Anything that came to the base and weighed more than 50 pounds passed through Ashmore's work station. Everything but munitions entered the base at Phu Cat through his place in the supply chain.

"Within our first week, the base came under mortar attack," he said. "We were sleeping, I remember. I also know we were in the bunkers before the sirens went off. I could hear the debris from one of the mortar hits."

Ashmore took extra weapons training a short time later. He soon was called to join a police squadron that helped surround the perimeter of the base, offering an extra level of protection.

He served in his supply role for 12 months, save for a five-day period of "rest and relaxation" in nearby Sydney, Australia.

At Christmas, Ashmore saw entertainers Bob Hope and Ann-Margret, who dropped by for a holiday show.

Ashmore wrote letters home at least once a week, including those to Jan Fletcher, who would one day become his wife.

"I was with guys from Sioux City, friends of mine, and that alleviated homesickness," he said.

"I had a job to do and I did my job during the day and then went to the NCO club at night," he said. "For being in Vietnam, it wasn't that bad compared to a guy going through the jungle."

A low point in his tour came when a letter arrived from Sioux City. It told of one of Ashmore's buddies, a soldier who did go through the jungle in Vietnam, a soldier who ended up losing part of one of his legs. The tale still saddens Ashmore, causing tears to well in his eyes as he stopped talking.

Ashmore befriended a man who was hired to offer interpretation services on the base at Phu Cat. Ashmore and a fellow soldier traveled to the man's village in Vietnam to deliver lumber that U.S. soldiers were going to discard.

"When we saw their village, we could appreciate what this lumber meant to them," he said. "Their living conditions were so primitive."

If Ashmore took home a lifelong lesson when he left Vietnam on May 14, 1969, it would involve that notion of appreciation.

"What I did gave me an appreciation for veterans in general and for what my uncles went through (in previous wars)," he said from his home in Sergeant Bluff. "It also gave me an appreciation for what I have. I think people in the U.S., at least some people, don't realize how good we have it."

Ashmore received the Commendation Medal for outstanding performance in the line of duty, a medal he thinks has something to do with the extra training he took and the work he did to help guard the perimeter of the base.

Interestingly, Ashmore never owned a firearm, either before or after his military service.

He arrived back in Sioux City in mid-May 1968. His parents greeted him at the airport, as did his grandmother, a brother and his brother's family.

Jan Fletcher stood with a friend in Morningside as the plane circled over Sioux City and descended toward the airport. She and Jim would go out on a date the next night.

Jim Ashmore returned to work at Williams & Co. two weeks later. After he and Jan watched Neil Armstrong step foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, Jim Ashmore took his own "giant leap." He asked Jan to marry him.

The parents of two and the grandparents of five, the Ashmores recently celebrated their 45th anniversary.

(In addition, if you go to http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/vietnam/video-vietnam-veteran-jim-ashmore/youtube_5b4e0dee-b4e3-5dbe-a33c-514d11aae5cc.html you can watch a video interview with Jim.)

October 1, 2015 SCJ

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Barb Miller McKenney and the Silver Sensations Dance Line!

Lori Watts of Moville, center left, and Barb McKenney of Hinton, center right, dance with others members of the Siouxland Center for Active Generations' Silver Sensations hip hop troupe. In addition to performing at September's Fall Follies fundraiser for the center, the Silver Sensations also dance at area nursing facilities.

At age 74, Frances Madison is becoming quite adept at line dancing, tap dancing and ballroom dancing. However, the Siouxland Center for Active Generations member is also developing a knack for a different form of dance: hip hop. Yeah, you read that right. The Center's Silver Sensations dance troupe has been swinging to a decidedly more modern beat.

Granted, the women haven't been kickin' it to the tunes of Eminem or Li'l Kim. Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" and Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" are more to their liking. "I knew hip hop existed but I never really knew how to dance to it," Madison said during a class held in the auditorium of the 313 Cook St. center. "Don't know how good I am at hip hop but I do like it." Indeed, she was one of the hip hoppers cutting it loose at the Center's Fall Follies, held in September. "I'd like to think that we stole the show," Jane Hunkins, a fellow member of the Silver Sensations hip hop ensemble, said. "I know we got plenty of applause from the audience."

Normally a tap dance instructor at the Center, Hunkins said looking like a hip hop artist is an important way of selling the act. Wearing a black hoodie, sequined top and Chuck Taylor kicks covered with rhinestones makes a person stand out. Mostly, Hunkins credited hip hop choreographer Amy Lahrs with some truly "fly" moves. A former high school dance instructor, Lahrs said she preferred teaching seniors to teenagers.

"Seniors are critical on themselves when they mess up," she said. "Teenagers don't take dance that seriously." Indeed, one of Lahrs' prized pupils is also her mom. "Amy's my daughter and she's a great teacher," Lori Watts said with a big grin. "I'm not a natural hip hopper. If Amy can teach me to move, she can teach anyone."

Even Kerry Ruehle, the center's activities director, has joined in on the fun as a Silver Sensations member. "I never joined a dance club before but wanted to see what it was like," Ruehle said. "Now I'm kicking myself for not doing it earlier."

Still, Jane Shanahan was a bit suspect about hip hop. "I've watched hip hop dancing on TV before," she noted. "I saw a bunch of young people rolling around on the floor. When I started taking lessons with Amy, I was convinced I could still roll around on the floor," Shanahan said, jokingly. "Getting up off of the floor? Now, that becomes a different proposition once you reach a certain age."

We have a suspicion Shanahan did just fine as one of the Silver Sensations hip hoppers. "Yeah, I had a lotta fun," she conceded. Looking back at her life, Frances Madison said she never danced when she was younger. "I was too busy and never had the time," she said. It wasn't until she became a Siouxland Center for Active Generations member that Madison discovered a passion for dance. "And you know what? I never feel tired or sore after dancing," she said. "Instead, I feel invigorated and alive." Which means Madison can't wait to learn a new genre of dance from Lahrs: hoopla, which is dancing with synchronized props like hoops and tassels. "Right now, I think I'm up for anything," Madison said with a smile.

10/22/17 SCJ

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Classmate Crowned Miss Iowa

Markie Anderson, 20, of Sioux City, won the Miss Iowa crown Sunday night at Arnolds Park. She represented Morningside College in the pageant. She will compete in the Miss U.S.A. contest in Miami. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Keith R.W. Anderson, 4748 Mayhew Drive.

Well...this was an article in the Sioux City Journal in June 1967, but our congrats still go out to Markie!

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Class of 64's Port-A-Potty Guy

Tom Lindblom sure knows how to make an entrance. After all, not too many people drive into Cottonwood Cove Park, hauling 20 portable toilets.

"People seem to love the slogan on the back of our big truck: 'Yesterday's Meals-on-Wheels,'" Lindblom said with a laugh. "Yeah, you gotta have a sense of humor when you're in this line of work."

Since 1969, Lindblom Services has been responsible for portable toilets, urinals and handicapped-accessible lavatories at construction sites as well as outdoor festivals like Dakota City's Cottonwood Days. "Cottonwood Days is actually one of our smaller events," Lindblom said. "We also have the contract for such events as Saturday in the Park, River-Cade and (the outdoor concerts at) Hard Rock Hotel & Casino that keep us very busy in the summertime."

Certainly no Johnny-come-lately, Lindblom, 69, came into the latrine business strictly as a sideline.

A longtime Sioux City firefighter, he actually began pumping septic tanks for residential homes.

"Back then, firefighters worked a schedule where they were on duty for 24 hours and then off for 48 hours," Lindblom remembered. "That gave me plenty of time for a second job."

Gradually, his sideline became his main job and, over time, he acquired nearly 500 portable toilets.

"It's a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it," Lindblom added.

Over the years, Lindblom said he's noticed construction workers treat portable toilets better than festival attendees. "You treat them better if you know you'll constantly be using one," he speculated. Yet Lindblom said he's finds more interesting things left behind following a festival.

"In general, we've found plenty of cellphones, keys and wallets left in portable toilet," he said. "We return all of that to the event organizers. "But Lindblom said he has also found beer cans, beer bottles, diapers and, even, bras left inside outdoor commodes. "You never know what you're gonna find," he said. "Let's just leave it at that."

"It's only when you're in the hot sun and have plenty of beer in you that you'll be happy they are plenty of facilities around you," he said.

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Iowa Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Includes 3 of Our Classmates

In 2003 a group by the name of The Rockers was inducted into the Iowa Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Included in the group were 3 of our classmates: Ric Van Haitsma, Gary Murkins, and Roger Rothwell.

Other East High grads that were members of the group were Reuben Hanson (63), Mike Erskine (65) and Jim Shea (65).

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Perks of reaching​ ​being over 60 and heading towards 70 or beyond!
1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
2. In a hostage situation, you are likely to be released first.
3. No one expects you to run-- anywhere.
4. People call at 9 PM (or 9 AM) and ask, 'Did I wake you?'
5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
7. Things you buy now won't wear out.
8. You can eat supper at 4 PM.
9. You can live without sex, but not your glasses.
10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.
13. You sing along with elevator music.
14. Your eyes won't get much worse.
15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.
17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.
18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size.
19. You can't remember who sent you this list.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING:
Never, NEVER, NEVER, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative at the same time.

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United Flight 232's Crash in Sioux City 25th Anniversary

The 25th anniversary of the crash of United flight 232 at the Sioux City airport was held Saturday, July 19, 2014. Bob Hamilton (class of 65) was the Sioux City fire chief at that time and is part of the article. Bob passed away on May 9, 2015

From left, photographer George Lindblade, former Briar Cliff University psychology professor Tom Padgett and former Sioux City fire Chief Bob Hamilton are shown Friday at the United Flight 232 exhibit in the Mid America Museum of Aviation and Transportation in Sioux City. The three said their involvement in the aftermath of the crash of United Flight 232 changed their lives in ways they didn't expect.

A quarter-century after a DC-10 crashed at Sioux Gateway Airport, a trio of community leaders said their involvement changed their lives in lasting, unexpected ways.

"You value more of what you have," retired Sioux City fire Chief Robert Hamilton said. "You think more about appreciating each day."

Hamilton, who retired in 2006, said the lesson to live one day at a time was reinforced in 2009 when he was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. Despite some immune system issues, he said he is doing well.

Former Sioux City mayor and councilman Tom Padgett still thinks about those who lost loved ones on July 19, 1989, when United Airlines Flight 232 crash-landed. While 184 passengers and crew members survived, another 112 people perished. He clearly remembers their grief.

"That space at the airport has become hallowed ground," said Padgett, who initially helped counsel some families who took emergency shelter at Briar Cliff University, where he was a psychology professor.

George Lindblade and his staff at G.R. Lindblade & Co. in Sioux City still receive requests for videos they produced in the wake of the crash, "Alert 3: The Crash of Flight 232" and, 10 years later, "Lessons Learned." His staff assisted with providing information for investigators that was used in the National Transportation Safety Board's hearings and by various companies.

"I made a lot of friends over the years because of this," including responders in other cities and Flight 232 Capt. Al Haynes, Lindblade said. It was an outcome he didn't anticipate.

Of the three Sioux City residents, only Hamilton, now 67, went to the airport after the plane crashed that day. On the scene, he helped staff the command post with representatives of multiple agencies from the tri-state region.

"When Flight 232 crashed, we had a plan in place. We had done a comprehensive drill in the fall of 1988 with other agencies," he recalled. "We learned from that and then fine-tuned it. It was a great learning tool for us.

"It was a very horrific event," Hamilton said. "We saw the worst type of trauma. Then, there were the people who walked out uninjured."

He, like many other responders, stayed overnight to secure the aircraft and plan for what they would do the next day, which included searching the fuselage in daylight for missing passengers. Afterward, all responders were mandated to attend a counseling session and were encouraged to seek therapy to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. It wasn't only the first responders who sought counseling, but some of their families as well. Hamilton attended only the required session.

Padgett, meanwhile, was asked to provide grief counseling for families and survivors who stayed at Briar Cliff, which became a makeshift sanctuary. United Airlines flew family members to Sioux City.

The first family he talked to was "totally in shock," Padgett, now 70, said. "The other family (included) the husband and the father of one of the victims. The father was very angry at Sioux City. ... There wasn't much you could say to him. He needed to get his anger out."

Since his teaching background was not in clinical psychology but in experimental psychology, he switched to transporting those staying at the college -- picking them up at the airport, taking them to hospitals to see family members who were receiving treatment or running other errands. Counselors from Briar Cliff, other agencies and the University of South Dakota stepped in to offer therapy.

"Just because I teach psychology, I was supposed to counsel these people who just lost their wife or mom," he said. "That was hard, but I saw a tremendous pulling together of people and groups."

When the crash happened, Lindblade's studio was at 420 Jones St. near the Sioux City Convention Center, which was serving as a headquarters for the technical investigators.

"We had a very large printer, and the investigators started using us as an auxiliary office," said Lindblade, now 76. "We followed it through the NTSB hearings and also videotaped the hearings for them and helped put together the exhibits. ... When the final decision was made to take the aircraft pieces to a salvage yard, we had to make a topographical photograph of the debris."

The Lindblade crew also worked with General Electric, which manufactured the fan disk that blew apart, severing all the jet's hydraulic lines, and McDonnell Douglas, manufacturer of the DC-10.

During the past 25 years, the Lindblade staff has sent thousands of copies of the "Alert 3" video to agencies across the country, Canada and even France to use as an educational piece to illustrate how Siouxland pulled together to respond to the crash. The National Civic League presented Sioux City with the All-American City recognition in 1990.

"Volunteerism was at its height," Lindblade said. "It's never been duplicated and never will. If people take that same mindset, we could accomplish anything."

"It was just a miracle that lives were saved that day," said Hamilton. "If you didn't believe in a higher power before the crash, you did afterward due to the number of people who lived."

July 16, 2014 SCJ

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East High Art Teacher James Goff Article

Outside, like a lion, March roared into Siouxland last Saturday, bringing more than four inches of snow and frigid temperatures with it. But as evening drew nigh, the wintry landscape turned still and silent in the wake of the storm.

It was just the kind of scene that would have stirred James F. Goff from the comforts of home to travel the back roads of Woodbury County with his wife, Florence, by his side. She said he didn’t like shoveling the snow, but he sure liked looking at it.

The late artist, known by his signature as J.F. Goff, found beauty in rural landscapes, dotted by leafless trees and decrepit old barns that looked like they might just cave in at any moment. Using watercolor paints, he captured the scenes on paper with such dimension and detail – down to a single shingle and the finest of twigs.

Every area needs someone like J.F. Goff to see and feel the special quality of that place, curator Todd Behrens told the crowd at the Sioux City Art Center. These people had braved Saturday’s snowy roads to attend the opening reception for Still and Silent Places.

On view through June 1, the exhibition celebrates the work of J.F. Goff with 35 of his watercolor paintings. More than 20 local collectors contributed to the display.

Organizing the exhibit, Behrens had access to hundreds of images, thanks to the painter’s son Jim Goff. Since his father’s passing in 2007, he has catalogued more than 650 paintings.

As an art teacher at East High School for nearly three decades, Goff knew how to handle most mediums, but watercolors were his favorite.

While the reception attracted admirers of the late Sioux City painter’s work, it also prompted a Goff family reunion.

Without hesitation, Kate Goff, who lives in Brussels, Belgium, returned stateside for the opening night of the exhibition and gathered in the third level gallery with six of her siblings and more members of the extended family.

“It’s my dad,” she said. “He was a wonderful man, the most important man in the world.”

Before this exhibition came to life, Florence Goff had only gotten a glimpse at some of her husband’s paintings.

“He’d paint them and take them to the gallery,” she said, adding that they’d soon be gone. “Some of them are kind of new to me too … It’s nice that he’s being recognized after all these years. You get this many in one place, it’s kind of amazing.”

Above article was in the Sioux City Journal March 7, 2014

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Jim Henry, the 'Canyon Kid' and Siouxland TV Pioneer Has Died

Jim Henry, a Siouxland television pioneer and icon, died Thursday, January 30th, surrounded by family members at an assisting living facility in Midland, Mich. He was 90.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Henry came to Sioux City to train as a bombardier at the Sioux City Army Air Base (now the Iowa Air National Guard 185th Air Refueling Wing). He was later stationed in England and flew 25 missions aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress.

He returned to Sioux City following the war, got a job at a Weatherwax's men's store and soon helped start the Sioux City Community Theatre, appearing in the theater's first production in 1948.

Henry made a name for himself on the local stage and the success helped him land a television role as the "Canyon Kid" host a children's show at KCAU-TV in 1953, not long after the station began broadcasting.

He filled the airwaves and did community events, parades and promotions for KCAU until 1985, hosting an estimated 70,000 children as the "Canyon Kid," the affable cowboy with the Brooklyn accent.

In 1989, Henry went to work for KTIV in Sioux City and would host the station's "Around Siouxland" program until 2004, retiring from television at the age of 80.

He and his wife Karen Henry moved to Midland, Mich.,in 2013 to be close to their son, Jason Henry. Karen Henry said Friday that her husband died peacefully on Thursday night. She said Jim's funeral will take place in Sioux City, although arrangements with Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel of Sioux City are still being made.

"He loved his career, he loved Sioux City and he loved Iowa," Karen Henry said Friday morning. "That's why we're bringing him back to Iowa."

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Listen To Your Favorite Songs

To listen to your favorite songs from the good old days, go to the following website: http://www.1959bhsmustangs.com/VideoJukebox.htm

Once there you can click on the "To Visit 60s JukeBox Click Box" button to listen to the top 60s songs by year.

Enjoy!

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Here's a great video that will bring back lot's of memories of the 50's.